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Holiday Blues

Heading home from holiday is a necessary evil, isn’t it? No-one really enjoys it – after a week or two in the sun, the thought of returning to work, responsibility and mainly, the British weather, can make the prospect as grim as said weather.

So, when you do land back on British soil, it’s understandable that you want the transition from plane to car to be as smooth as possible.

Spare a thought then for passengers at Stansted Airport over the weekend, some of whom had to wait up to a day to pick up their cars after the London airport suffered a ‘technical’ hitch with its Meet and Greet service.

The service allows holidaymakers to leave their cars with professional drivers, who find a parking space, log the condition of the car and then park it securely, while they go off to catch their flights.

Keys were lost and as staff members rummaged around helplessly to find them, police even had to be called in to calm the situation as holidaymakers started to get more than a little annoyed.

Not only were keys lost…some people were even told staff weren’t sure where their cars were, causing longer delays.

It’s been reported that yesterday (Monday) some people were still without their cars, more than 30 hours after arriving at the airport. They could have jumped back on a flight and enjoyed another mini break in that time.

Understandably, the situation has been branded a ‘disaster’ and an ‘absolute shambles’ by disgruntled customers on social media, with another commenting that it was “one of the most surreal things I have ever experienced”.

It’s fair to say this has resulted in a reputational nightmare for the service, and by extension, the airport.

A spokesman for Stansted has ‘apologised unreservedly’ for the situations, offering all those affected a full refund plus compensation.

However, with yet more people booked in to use the car park this weekend, it remains to be seen if this will be enough.

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